Amore

by Sienna Mynx

“I’ll page Lorenzo again. We’ll get answers,” Marietta assured Catalina. “I promise.”

  **

  The men all stood around the bed of their boss glaring. Giovanni looked Benicia in the eye. “Leave us,” the clan boss said to his men.

  “I won’t leave your side, brother,” Benicia’s younger brother Mateo said. He was shorter than his brother, and much leaner.

  “Get the fuck out. We have business to discuss.” Don Benicia said.

  Mateo glared at Giovanni. He nodded his respect and left. Giovanni found a chair and brought it over to the bed.

  “Have they found her?” Benicia asked.

  “They haven’t.” Giovanni answered dryly. He stared at the bruises and scarring all over Benicia’s face. Both of the man’s eyes were blackened and nearly swollen shut.

  “I’m here to make an offer.”

  “I thought you were here to apologize,” Benicia chuckled.

  Giovanni did not.

  “Gio, I meant no disrespect earlier. It was a slip of the tongue. My men are looking and will help to find—”

  “You want more power. The money is in the export that’s leaving out through Salerno.”

  “Drugs?” Benicia frowned.

  “I know your interests,” Giovanni said.

  “But Racchini is working with Lorenzo. That pie has already been sliced,” Benicia said.

  Giovanni stood. “I’ll cut you a piece, a larger piece.”

  “And what is asked of me in exchange?” Benicia asked.

  “My wife. The boss who finds her unharmed and returns her to me gets forty percent of the business.”

  Benicia’s eyes stretched, which was painful for him. He looked at Giovanni astounded. At most the clan bosses were able to negotiate fifteen percent with any business dealings with the Battaglias. “So you are going to expand from bringing it in, to distributing? We’re getting in the business. Fully.”

  Giovanni nodded. “Think of what it means for you and your clan. Show me your loyalty and I’ll be willing to give you the rewards.”

  “We’ll find her,” Benicia managed a crooked smile. “I’ll make sure of it.”

  The clan boss extended his hand. Giovanni accepted the deal with a firm handshake. Giovanni turned and went to the door. He paused. He looked back. “I meant no disrespect to you, Benicia. But let’s be clear, if she is harmed in any way, I’ll show no mercy to any of those who failed me. That is the other side of the coin.”

  He opened the door and left.

  **

  Mirabella sat behind a locked door in the cabin. She tried everything to pry it open. After an hour she gave up. All she could do was wait. The boat was moving fast. Where was he taking her now? The doorknob turned. She stood and waited with a fingernail file behind her back. She held it the way one would hold a dagger.

  Kei entered. He looked at her and then to the bed where she tossed the hanger. “You haven’t changed.”

  “I’m not putting that on. I want you to take me back,” she said defiantly. “Now!”

  “If you haven’t figured it out by now, Mirabella, what you want no longer matters. I have other ways to convince you to accept what I want,” Kei said. “You did so, so nicely last night.”

  “I know you. I’ve loved you. I grew up in our love. Built a company and reputation because of our love. This is not you!” she shouted through her tears. She turned the file on him. Held it out as a weapon to keep him back. “I’m warning you! I won’t let you do this to me! I won’t!”

  “It’s done,” he reassured her.

  “No!”

  “Yes. You’re in the middle of the ocean. My men are all over this boat. I get so much as a paper cut because of you, and they won’t hesitate to throw you over. Remember how afraid you are of water.”

  “So that’s why you brought me out here. Because of my fear of water? Are you so damn sadistic that you’re enjoying this?” she asked.

  “I’m the same man who loved you inside. Who will protect you. And when I strip you of everything that has poisoned you against me you’ll see my sacrifices and honor me for it.”

  “I’m scared, for us both! You can’t play games with Giovanni. I have tried to protect you, begged him to let you go. He did. But now, he’ll kill you. Do you understand? There will be no place you can hide and he won’t find you! Kei, stop it. Now! Let me go.”

  He walked over to her. She held out the nail file and stepped back. He grabbed her wrist and took the weapon with little effort. He tossed it. He kissed her hand and she snatched it away from his reach.

  “Put the fucking dress on,” he told her.

  She looked to the garment splayed out on the bed. She wiped her tears and picked it up. The material was thin. The dress was familiar. She glanced over to him. “Where did you get this?”

  “I had some of my things returned to me after I was exiled from the States. Funny they sent your things too. Remember when you wore that?”

  “Kei—”

  “The trip to Santorini. When we sailed to Mykonos. You were terrified of the water. But you wanted to look pretty for me. You made that dress for me. We fucked on top of the sea, and you told me you’d marry me. Only to change your mind by the time we arrived home.”

  “I never said that. You remember it wrong. You forced me to sail in Greece when you knew I was terrified. And you kept after me about marriage. I told you I would think about it. That’s how it happened.”

  “Everything, Mirabella, has to be a challenge with you. Not because you can’t make a decision, but because you can’t trust yourself to believe in your decisions. You knew who I was, and who I wasn’t. You always knew. And if Giovanni hadn’t turned your head you would be my wife, having my children.”

  “Kei, that’s not true.”

  “It is!” he shouted at her. “Put the dress on, and make me feel appreciated for my efforts. Or I’ll help you relax.” He removed a syringe from his pocket. Terror gripped her the moment she saw it. She sucked in a deep breath and exhaled slowly in an attempt to not show any fear on her face. There was no need for modesty. She was trapped with him. She opened her kimono. Kei stared at her body as he often did when she was with him. He would ask her to walk around their penthouse apartment in the nude. He had her painted in the nude. She’d wake sometimes in the night, and find him up with the sheets pulled down so he could stare at her naked body, run his hands over it. When she was in Switzerland with him, he staged several accidental run-ins on her by walking in the bathroom when she finished showering, or coming in her room while she was dressing. He even tried to convince her to make a sex tape with him and his new camcorder. She refused. But after plying her with wine one night, he videotaped them without her knowledge. She freaked out and he destroyed the tape. Or so she remembered. She ignored the lust in his eyes and put the dress on.

  “Comb your hair. Put on makeup. And then meet topside.”

  She said nothing. He left. Mirabella looked over to the mirror at herself. The woman staring back at her was someone she didn’t recognize. She touched the bandage on her forehead and then the bruise on her neck. She wondered what Giovanni was doing at that moment. Dread filled her as she thought of the lengths her husband would go to find her. The Calderone massacre had nearly brought down his kingdom and sent him to prison. A kidnapping like this? It would push Giovanni close to the edge. She knew it. She had to help herself. Find a way to escape. How?

  **

  The pain to the left side of his face made him unable to move his head. He opened his eyes and tried to breathe. He could only do so through his nose. Santo blinked. Several stood before his bed staring. Before he was thrown in the ocean he could speak, now his jaw felt detached from his face.

  Giovanni watched him curiously, with Lorenzo glaring at his side. Nico was in the room as well as Dominic. He was a dead man. Giovanni said something to Lorenzo. Santo tried to read his lips but his vision blurred and made it hard.

  A doctor shined a light into his eyes
. He leaned in closer to look at Santo. And when he touched his mouth Santo screamed in his head.

  The doctor stepped back. “He’s awake, Don Giovanni.”

  Giovanni stepped around the bed to stand over him. He held a gun in his hand. Santo could not stop staring at it. For all he had done, he should not have ended up where he started. Isabella had betrayed him. He was supposed to be under the protective care of the Bonaduces. That was the deal.

  “You know what we do to pentitos?” Giovanni asked. Santo’s gaze lifted to Giovanni’s eyes. “You’re going to tell me everything you know.”

  He tried to open his mouth to speak but couldn’t. Either Giovanni understood this or he looked much worse than he knew. He glanced to Dominic. The young consigliere came over with a notepad and pen.

  Giovanni tapped the notepad with his gun. “I ask the question, you write the answer.”

  He then put the gun against Santo’s temple. He heard the safety release. “If you think you have a choice in this you don’t. I intend to keep you alive until I find her. Every time you lie or fail to enlighten me, your wife, your children, your brother, your fucking cleaning lady, will feel my pain—tenfold,” he said. “Are we understood?”

  Santo nodded.

  “Good. Let’s begin.”

  **

  Kei waited for Mirabella on the open deck to the back of the yacht. The image of her body brought forth so many decadent memories of the past. When he first saw her they were at a party. She entered the door with a red-haired woman. The only black woman in the place, and the most beautiful woman he’d seen in awhile. She shied away from the guests and spent most of the time by the door as her friend socialized. He brought her over a drink. She accepted and told him she was in fashion school and hoped to be a designer. Kei had money, influence, power that reached all the way back to China, he could have any woman of any color he wanted. What he didn’t have was a young fashion designer, with doe eyes, and a voice so lovely it made his dick hard. From that moment on his obsession grew. And she teased him with her naiveté and inexperience in the big city. She teased him into believing her innocence. He has since sobered from that deception.

  He stared out at the ocean. Surprisingly the wind had stopped whipping up the sea. The waters were calm. The sun blazed but the temperature was mild and comforting. He reclined in his chair and thought over his plans. Ordering Chao Lee to end his career by killing a boxer in front of thousands was a risky move. Even Bao questioned his sanity. And by now his uncle Dao was being told that he had brought the world’s attention to the Triad. Interpol was making connections that would cost their empire dearly. And to make things even worse, Chao Lee was dead. The Triad would be furious. But if he brought the Camorra boss to his knees, and gave his uncle the spoils, he could be forgiven. The end justified the means. Isabella had better not fail him. Not only did Mirabella’s life depend on it, but his as well.

  Last Night –

  Kei walked up the stairs to the upper deck. Isabella sat in a swivel chair sipping her wine. She glanced up when he entered. “How was she?”

  The question stung. Kei had learned to weather many things that were unpleasant. From prison, to prison camps, he endured. The only thing that kept him alive and driven was Mirabella. He’d cut Isabella’s throat when their business came to an end. For the moment she was a critical resource.

  He dropped the VHS tape on the table. Isabella sat forward. She picked up the tape with her gloved hand and put it in an envelope.

  “I’ll make sure this is delivered,” she said.

  “I want the Battaglia boys dead. I want my daughter,” he said.

  “Yes. Yes. I know. And like I told you, it’s one or the other. You can’t have both.”

  Kei sat down. He glared at her. Isabella flashed him a pretty smile. “We stick to the plan. I have to flush the Battaglias out of Melanzana. They are prepared for war. But nothing can prepare them for the law. Let me use the new Chief Inspector’s ambition against Giovanni. It’ll put him on the move, and then Eve is mine for the taking. She will be delivered to you.”

  “This plan had better work,” Kei said.

  “It’s bullet proof. Do you know why?” she smiled. “Because destroying Giovanni Battaglia isn’t just about taking his wife and daughter, or murdering his sons. It’s about wiping his family out completely. Remember his sons aren’t the only ones close to him. He has a lovely sister who could be your sacrificial lamb as well. He has cousins who he considers brothers that we can break. He has his father’s legacy that defines him. Take them all one by one and he’s on his knees before you.” She stood and picked up her purse. The boat had coasted far enough for her to debark and head back to the mainland. He could hear the men talking to the ones who followed them on a speedboat.

  “You know you could leave and go to China. It’s going to take several days, maybe even longer to get my hands on the kid.”

  “I’m not leaving until I have them both,” Kei said.

  Isabella smiled. “Is that so? A little birdie told me you won’t leave because your uncle is not happy with you?”

  “Careful, Isabella. I’m the monster. Remember?” Kei warned her.

  “Right. You’re the monster not me.” she smiled. “But we need to do it my way. Santo will make it to the shore. When Giovanni finds him he’ll have to confess to what he thinks he knows about our plans. You do as we agreed and everything will work out.”

  Kei nodded. He watched Isabella leave. After sipping tea he stood and returned to Mirabella. She lay under the covers nude. She moaned in her delirium. Kei opened his robe and shed it. Nude he rejoined her in bed. He took his time to study her body. It was as beautiful as he remembered. He ran his hand over her thigh, the curve of her hip. He turned her and traced the tip of his finger over her dark areola. He kissed her nipples. The moment he pulled the covers up, she said something and rolled over to him. She kissed his chest and neck. He felt his erection strengthen. Temptation was unbearable when she lifted her lips to his mouth and kissed him.

  He wouldn’t corrupt what they had shared this way. Not when she fantasized about making love to her husband. He stopped the kiss and brought her tight up against his chest. She stopped moaning and calling her husband’s name. The drug took its final effect and she passed out. Kei relaxed. He slipped into the first blissful sleep he’d had in years.

  **

  “First question, and there is only one answer, who hired you to take my wife from me?” Giovanni asked.

  Santo looked up at the gun and then into Giovanni’s eyes. He wrote on the notepad and read the name. “Isabella? Who the fuck is Isabella?”

  Lorenzo snatched the notepad. “It can’t be.”

  “Do you know her?” Giovanni asked.

  Lorenzo stared at the notepad. The day he read the name Isabella on the note Marietta had with the tapes, he felt he knew her. This could not be a coincidence. “No. I don’t.”

  “Then you’re fucking lying to me!” Giovanni raised the gun. Santo raised his hands in surrender. Giovanni threw the notepad at him and Santo picked it up. He scribbled again.

  Dominic snatched the notepad. “It says Isabella hired him for Kei Hyogo.”

  “Find out who this bitch is.” Giovanni told Dominic. “Next question. Where is she? Where did they take her?”

  Santo looked up at him. He picked up the notepad and then the pen. Giovanni put the gun to Santo’s skull. “No more second guesses. What you write down determines the life of everyone who has known you. Where is she?”

  The scribbling was fast. Santo wrote the answer and handed the notepad over. Dominic read it out loud to the room. “The sea.”

  “No shit. Where are they going?”

  “They threw him out in the ocean, Giovanni. He doesn’t fucking know,” Lorenzo said.

  “Wait. Someone does,” Dominic said. “Where can we find Isabella?” Dominic asked.

  Santo looked to Giovanni and then the gun. He took the notepad and he wrote his
answer. Dominic read it aloud. “29 Piazza Bagnoli.”

  Before Giovanni could respond the door kicked open. The Carabinieri rushed in shouting with their Uzis pointed at them. Giovanni, and all his men were forced to drop their weapons and get down on their knees. They had to put their hands up behind their heads. While he was being handcuffed Giovanni stared at Santo. When Santo held his stare Giovanni winked. No matter where this ended, he would pay Santo a visit personally for coming after his family. Giovanni was forced to his feet and marched out. Lorenzo and Dominic were handcuffed as well. All of them were walked out. The Carabinieri had been tipped off to where the Camorra bosses were gathered, by a woman. Or so he thought he heard one of the officers say. Each of them were put in the back of vans. In his criminal career he’d only been detained and questioned for as long as a few weeks. He’d never actually been formally charged.

  “Don’t say anything, Gio. I’ll have us out soon,” Dominic advised.

  Giovanni stared out of the open doors to the van, and watched the men of different clans being forced to lay flat in the streets. His mind was blank. He had a new enemy and her name was Isabella. How many women had he known and been with in his lifetime under that same name? Lorenzo’s mother was named Isabella. Who the fuck was this bitch?

  He glanced to Lorenzo. His cousin’s reaction to the name was curious. “Who is Isabella to you?” he asked him again.

  “I don’t know, Gio. But I swear to you I will help you find out.” Giovanni narrowed his eyes on Lorenzo. Other men were shoved into the back of the van and Giovanni was forced to scoot down. Lorenzo never lowered his gaze. For some reason Giovanni didn’t believe him.

  **

  The kids were out in the pool. Marietta stood by the terrace door watching. She sipped her wine with shaky hands. Her troubled heart had too many worries. Mirabella was kidnapped, being tortured for all they knew. Lorenzo was out in the streets and could be shot or arrested. Carlo was in jail suffering because of the death of his brother. The wine was the only thing that calmed her. She didn’t want to be inebriated, but she had to remain calm. She heard someone enter from behind her. She turned. She saw a stricken look on Rocco’s face. He was ghostly white.